Best Fergus Alternative New zealand
The Fergus alternative for builders and tradies
Comparing Fergus with NextMinute? We’ve put together a clear, no-nonsense comparison to help NZ builders and tradies choose the right job management software.
Comparing Fergus with NextMinute? We’ve put together a clear, no-nonsense comparison to help NZ builders and tradies choose the right job management software.
Fergus is a good fit for tradies like sparkies and plumbers who are flat-out doing quick jobs all day. But if you’re working on bigger, longer-term projects — like building, renos, landscaping or carpentry — NextMinute is built for you. It’s packed with solid tools for quoting, planning, timesheets, and keeping the crew in the loop on-site. From the first quote to the final invoice, NextMinute helps you stay in control and keep things running smoothly.
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Reviews
Rated 4.9/5 in Reviews on Google and Facebook, with local NZ support that actually helps.
Import your price books and use templates to save hours on quoting. Send to clients and get approval with one click.
Use your takeoff software or QS of choice, and quickly import takeoffs to NextMinute to start planning the job.
Easy-to-use Gantt chart for planning jobs. Assign jobs and tasks to crew to reduce confusion and get on with the job.
No more chasing timesheets or payroll errors. Talk-to-text notes, attach photos, and log time + expenses.
Your team can easily view plans on site. Ditch the paperwork and have less mistakes and confused tradies.
Crew can save photos to jobs so you have a leg to stand on and can keep the customer up-to-date.
Crew can easily log notes and photos against jobs and tasks to keep you & your client informed.
Manage your jobs from on-site or in the ute with ease. Plus, your crew can view jobs and tasks, and log time with ease.
With all your job costs in one system, you can easily send accurate progress or final invoices with a few clicks.
No more handshake agreements and client disputes. NextMinute makes managing and tracking variations a breeze.
Report on actuals vs estimates in real-time by job and stage. Spot blow outs early to protect your profit.
Set custom buy/sell rates for machinery and have your crew log the hours.
Easily add in job expenses to keep track of your actuals vs. estimates.
Easily send SMS, email, and in-app messages straight from NextMinute.
Starting from NZ$199/month for 3 users, and it’s easy to adjust as your team changes.
No limits - full access to all features on all plans
Unlimited projects & jobs
Flexible, month-to-month pricing based on your crew size
No lock-in contracts
Unlimited setup, training, and ongoing support for life
Dedicated help from our local crew: Duncan, Ryan & Tarsha.
Auckland-based support team who actually understand tradie life.
Pricing
Comparing NextMinute 1 Admin and 5 Team users
Easy to use mobile apps
Fully featured mobile app built for fat fingers
Job Management
All job information in one place, available anywhere – contacts, files, notes, photos etc
Job planning
Fully drag and drop gantt chart including multiple jobs
Timesheets
Easy to use timesheets with configurable rate cards
Payroll integration
Accounting system payroll integration and standard payroll extracts for other systems
Invoicing
Quick job invoicing for both fixed price and cost plus, integrated to accounting system
Supplier invoice integration
2 way supplier invoicing sync, match supplier invoices to jobs for accurate cost allocation
Detailed back costing
Job and stage level profitability analysis incorporating all material and labor costs
Reporting
Full reporting suite including live WIP report, job profitability and timesheet analysis
Customer Portal
Customer facing portal incorporating progress updates, invoices, variations and customer interactions
Quoting
Template driven job quoting and workflows
Talk to a Real Person
Have a quick chat with our Sydney-based team. We’ll walk through how you run jobs and show you how NextMinute fits.
Anna-Kate
Sales Manager
From the land of Guinness, she’ll help you work out if NextMinute’s a good fit. Straight talk, no sales BS, and a good sense of humour.
Mat
Former Plumber & NextMinute Pro
Mat’s a plumber, not a software guy. He’s been on the tools and shows you how to run jobs without the admin headaches.
Tell us what you need
Let us know your requirements and how you run your jobs
No bullsh*t
Real humans with construction experience that you'll actually like talking to
Get a trial account
We'll set you up with a customised account to try out NextMinute. We can even import your jobs and quotes
We’ve answered the ones we hear most from builders and tradies.
Fergus is great for sparkies and plumbers doing quick call-out jobs, but NextMinute is purpose-built for bigger, multi-stage projects like new builds and renos. We focus on in-depth Gantt chart scheduling and back costing to make sure your long-term projects stay profitable.
We sure do. Unlike Fergus which focuses on a daily calendar, NextMinute features a full drag-and-drop Gantt chart so you can plan out job stages, set dependencies, and keep the whole crew on the same page for weeks or months at a time.
For a standard team of five, NextMinute usually works out about 30% cheaper than Fergus. We keep our pricing simple and transparent in NZD, with no hidden costs or lock-in contracts so you can cancel anytime if it's not for you.
Yes, our back costing reports give you a real-time look at how you're tracking versus your original quote. You can break this down by job stage to see exactly where you're making money or if the labour is blowing out on a specific part of the build.
It’s designed specifically for fingers on-site. The crew can log timesheet hours, snap progress photos, and view site plans directly from their phones, meaning they spend less time on admin and more time on the tools.
You’ll get local, Auckland-based support from our team—Duncan, Ryan, and Tarsha. We don’t just give you a login; we provide free personalised setup, import your active jobs and quotes, and make sure your team is trained up properly.
Managing variations is a breeze—you can track the extra labour and materials instantly so you don't forget to bill for them. We also handle progress payments and final invoicing, syncing everything directly with Xero or MYOB to keep the GST and books tidy.
We have a two-way sync with Xero and MYOB. This means your supplier bills pull through automatically and your voiced hours and invoices push straight to your accounts, saving you heaps of double-entry on the weekend.
You can. If you get a takeoff back from a QS or use specific estimating software, you can import that data straight into NextMinute to create your quote and start tracking your actual costs against it immediately.
You can give NextMinute a crack with a 10-day free trial, no credit card required. We’ll even jump on a quick call to help you set it up and show you how it handles your specific workflow compared to what you're using now.
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